Saturday, June 27, 2020

An Uncharacteristic Lack of Wariness

I've made my peace with woodchucks, by which I mean groundhogs, whistle-pigs, weenusks, or monax marmots, though once upon a time, I counted among my enemies this guy, who sorely vexed me even from beyond the grave. Verily, my consternation with these chunky sciurids has passed into memory, a tale to be told in my dotage to bored youngsters, such as yourselves.

That being said, groundhogs are known for being somewhat antisocial, they are wary creatures, ready to bolt when their bitter rivals approach their demesnes. I was somewhat surprised to practically stumble upon a young one which didn't immediately run for its burrow:




While it would be tempting to pass this critter off as the great-grandchild of my foe, I must be candid- there is a distance of almost four miles (6.4 kilometers) between this site and the site which my old foe haunted in vexatious life and pungent death. I am fairly confident that I won't have to deal with a multi-generational campaign of vengeance.
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2 comments:

  1. Anathema DeviceJune 27, 2020 at 8:42 PM

    [psst, your dead vexation link is missing a semi-colon so it is borked]

    I am very fond of all kinds of rodents (even city rats though I don't actually want to meet one) because they are winsome and cunning. How wonderful to meet a young groundhog in the wild like that?

    We have no native sciurids and I would castrate any nitwit who introduced them to Australia because I know what grey squirrels are like in the UK. Having said that, I love watching them and their little hands.

    I understand your mixed emotions :)

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  2. Big Bad Bald BastardJune 27, 2020 at 11:25 PM

    Thanks for picking up on that omission. I have a fondness for our gray squirrels, but I wouldn't wish them upon an unsuspecting, unprepared biome. I would happily do an English sparrow/gray squirrel repatriation exchange, to the benefit of both countries.

    We have exactly one native marsupial in North America, and I have a genuine fondness for our Virginia opossum, not least of all for their habit of hoovering up deer ticks like nobody's business.

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